Need You Now
by loveisanocean
Summary: Stiles decides to take Scott away from all the werewolf business - to a country on the Arctic Circle. But Stiles is soon distracted by something, or rather, someone...Stiles/OC (rated M for later chapters)


Stiles studied his best friend's features carefully, looking for any signs of him maybe coming back to consciousness. Stiles caught himself smiling a little as he noticed how his jaw was slightly asymmetrical and wondered if Allison had ever noticed. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, and Stiles took a moment to pray that he was finally getting a break from all the werewolf stuff that had been extra dangerous and overwhelming lately. Stiles hadn't been there so he didn't know exactly what had happened, all he knew was that his best friend was delivered to him by Derek to take care of, before Derek left to catch whatever had attacked them. The nurses had reluctantly told him vaguely about Scott's state, after Stiles claimed to be his brother. Apparently, he got beaten up fairly badly, but was going to be fine in a day or two. He had been sedated so they could patch him up earlier, and now Stiles was waiting for him to wake up, so he could present his master plan to Scott. He wanted to take Scott away from all the danger for at least a little while, and a certain country caught his eye while looking at a map, trying to decide where to go. And that country was Finland. It was perfect – he had never heard of the place, and he was certain that no one there would know either one of them. Besides the country is like, on the Arctic Circle, wouldn't werewolves freeze to death, running naked in the woods? He chuckled at the thought of Derek running through a snowy forest, freezing his ass off.

The sound of his chuckle got a reaction from Scott, finally. He frowned, before opening his eyes and looking around.

"Hi, buddy" Stiles said, trying not to appear too excited about finally getting some signs of life.

"Stiles…" Scott mumbled, sitting up for a minute to get a better look of his surroundings before lying back again.

"How're you feeling?" Stiles asked carefully, looking for signs of pain on Scott's features. It was times like these, when he wished he had some supernatural senses as well , so he could sense what Scott was feeling.

"Dizzy, but ok…" Scott's eyes weren't focusing; it seemed as if he was looking for something. Or rather, someone.

"Allison's not here" Stiles said, a hint of frustration in his voice. He'd been here the whole time, but the only person he cares about was Allison. Typical.

"Oh" Scott sighed, his eyes now focusing on Stiles. "What happened?" he continued.

"I have no idea, I was hoping you could tell me! All I know is that Derek came up to my room with you in his arms, barking orders at me before he disappeared" Stiles huffed, shrugging. He was looking around the room now, increasingly annoyed at how Derek never bothered to tell him anything.

Scott only sighed in response.

"Anyway, Scott, I have a plan. For us" Stiles said, with new-found authority and confidence in his voice. For once, he wanted to be listened to.

Scott turned to him with a curious look on his face – he had obviously noticed the new, confident tone.

"We're going to Finland" Stiles said, with a serious expression. Scott laughed.

"What?"

"We're going to Finland, because I'm sick of you getting hurt all the time! We're going on a vacation"

Scott shrugged, a wide grin on his lips.

"Where even is Finland?" he asked, apparently accepting that there was no way he could change Stiles' mind.

"Oh, on the Arctic Circle" Stiles shrugged now, his eyes avoiding Scott's. He heard Scott growling quietly in dismay, but didn't care.

As I slowly drifted back to consciousness, the first thing I acknowledged was a crushing pain on my right cheekbone, and a sharp, throbbing pain somewhere around my left breast. Opening my eyes, I found myself lying on the side of a tunnel, a tunnel I recognized. It was quite far from where I now lived, but as a child I used to go through that tunnel twice a day, to school and back. When I was young, there had been beautiful paintings of Egyptians on the walls, but now the walls were littered with graffiti. There was a bird pictured flying upwards near the top of the wall, and I was suddenly flooded with the desire to be a bird, to be able to fly away. As I saw a man approaching from the far end of the tunnel, I attempted to get up. My joints all ached, the pain on my cheekbone becoming increasingly worse and beginning to throb. My hand went to my right pocket, only to remember that I hadn't taken my phone with me that day. I was only supposed to go to the shop, and come back with some soy milk and almonds so I didn't think I'd need it.

The man was getting quite close now, and the only solution to my situation I could come up with was to ask to borrow his phone.

"Hei, anteeks…" I started, as I approached him. He gave me a confused look, before replying:

"I'm sorry, I don't speak Finnish" he said, giving me a friendly, but cautious smile. I suppose it was fair enough, considering he'd probably seen me get up in the tunnel, with my probably bruised face and dirty clothes.

"Ah, I'm sorry… It's just that, I was wondering if I could borrow your phone? I was…" I paused, trying to think of a word vague enough to not give him the entire story.

"…assaulted, and I don't have my phone, I need to call someone to take me home…" I mumbled the rest, it felt like I was telling myself that I need to get home rather than the stranger, who now had shock, worry even, written all over his face.

"Sure you can, but I'd be happy to take you home if you want? Or the hospital?"

I looked up to him, his kind, hazel eyes looking down at me with sympathy. I only managed to nod, as tears started to burn my eyes. It was such a strange thing, to receive such kindness from a stranger after such cruelty from a man just as unknown as this hazel-eyed stranger.

He put his arm on my back, carefully directing me back to where he had come from.

"My car is just over there" he said, smiling at me. I nodded, giving him a weak smile. He'd taken his arm off my back as we had gotten quite close to his car, and somehow I felt much less secure without him so close.

His car was an old, beat-up Jeep. You could notice that something had fallen on the hood of the car, and an amateur had tried to fix it themselves, the final result not being quite as even as it probably had been.

"Here you go" he said, opening the passenger side door for me. I stepped inside the car, where it smelled faintly of blood, smoke and wet dog. I had a moment of doubting my choice to get in a car with this stranger, but decided to ignore the gut feeling. What were the odds I'd get assaulted twice in one day?

"So, where to?" he asked, as he turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life.

"Just go on that road, and drive straight. I'll tell you when to turn" I said, pointing at the main road just off the parking lot his Jeep had been.

I noticed that I had started to shiver quite noticeably, so I decided to try if conversation would distract him.

"Thank you so much for doing this" I started. He waved his hand in the air, and replied:

"Don't worry about it"

"If there's anything I could do to repay the favor, just let me know, alright?" I said, starting to feel a little more relaxed, and confident.

"Well, actually… Oh, never mind" he said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"What is it? I'll do anything" I insisted, looking at him with curious eyes. I took my opportunity to examine the man. He wasn't too tall, maybe around 5'11 or so. He was quite fit, but not too buff. His brown hair was sticking up, which I quite liked. Overall, he seemed like the nice, goofy boy next door. If the situation had been different, I could see myself having a crush on him.

"Well I'm here on a vacation with a friend of mine, Scott, but the hotel had mixed up our reservation and instead of two separate beds, the hotel room had one single bed, and there were no other free rooms except for the grand suite. Which I obviously can't afford" he laughed, signaling at the hood of his car with his right hand.

"Oh, you can stay at my house, no problem. Or I can pay for the grand suite, if you'd prefer that" I said. For the first time since he'd turned the key in the ignition, he turned to look at me. He seemed speechless.

"I can't have you pay for the suite…" he began, shaking his head. "I'd be more than happy with a couch until I can find a place" he continued.

"Are you sure?" I confirmed.

"Yes, definitely yes" he said, smiling again. His smile made me feel happier somehow, each smile wiping out a fraction of my memories from earlier.

"You can leave your car here… Or I can move my car, if you'd rather want your car in the shelter?" I asked, pointing at my white, brand new Audi A3 parked in a shelter a few hundred feet away. My parents had given it to me as a graduation gift a couple of months ago.

"Oh no, my car is just fine here" he laughed, parking his Jeep in the sandy parking lot.

He got out, and just as I had opened my door, I realized that he was on his way around the car to come and open the door for me. I giggled, and apologized. He shrugged sarcastically, and I said that I'm not used to such chivalry in this country, copying his shrug. He smiled again; a fraction of my memory was gone.

"It's this way" I said, pointing at a steep little path, with rocks scattered on the path and trees surrounding it. He went first, and before I even realized, I was looking at his ass. I quickly looked away, noting to myself that I probably shouldn't be in that good shape mentally just yet.

He stopped at the top of the hill to wait for me. Just as I reached him, I realized that I still didn't even know his name.

"By the way, my name's Maria" I smiled, and he laughed as he seemed to come to the same realization. He was going to stay at my house, yet we didn't know each other's names.

"I'm Stiles" he replied, offering his hand for a handshake. I shook his hand, and noticed how small my hand looked in his. I was a tiny 5'2' and a hundred pounds, so it wasn't really a surprise – I was used to being the smallest in whatever company I was. There were even children, who were taller than me.

"That's an interesting name" I noted, as I started walking towards the door to my apartment.

"It's not my real name, but it's what I like to be called. It comes from my last name, Stilinski" he replied.

"Stilinski sounds Russian, somehow" I said, as I reached into my pocket to fish out my keys. I took a moment to thank whichever god was listening for still having my keys.

We stepped into the rather dark vestibule, and it was somehow comforting to notice that nothing had changed here. I was really craving for something tangible that would remain the same whatever happened to me. I looked around to check, just once more. The white dresser on the left wall was still there, and so was the ornate, white mirror on the wall on top of it. Half of the walls were still a warm, yet light terracotta color, and the door to the bathroom was intact. I nearly wanted to sigh out of relief.

"There's the toilet, laundry room, shower and sauna" I said, pointing at the only door.

"You have a sauna?" he questioned, a surprised look on his face.

"Yeah, it's very common here. Even little skyscraper apartments have a sauna" I said, and smiled.

"I can heat it up for you tonight, if you'd like?" I continued.

"If it's not too much trouble" Stiles replied, excitement audible in his answer, which was obviously meant to be calm and collected.

"Let's go upstairs, shall we?" I said, and started walking upstairs, where my cat was waiting at the top of the stairs. He meowed at me, and I had to resist the urge to talk to him. Apparently it wasn't normal for girls to live alone with a cat, and talk to their cat.

"This is Joonas" I said, reaching to pet the white cat. He carefully followed Stiles with his bright blue eyes as he approached, before turning around and running away.

"He doesn't like new people too much, my friends tend to grab him and not let go" I laughed.

The upstairs was intact as well. My ivory couch was still sitting at the far wall, with two matching armchairs nearby. Bookshelves and the speakers were in place, and the familiar terracotta color continued in one of the walls.

"Your apartment is massive!" Stiles exclaimed, as he looked around. I laughed, and told him to thank my parents.

"That's where the bedroom is, that's where you can sleep" I said, pointing at one of the three doors on the terracotta wall.

"I told you, I'm fine with the couch" he said, signaling at the couch with his hand.

"I just figured that it'd be better for you to have the privacy when it's not your home. I really don't mind the couch" I said, and smiled.

"Do you want anything to drink, or eat?" I asked, already walking towards the kitchen.

"A glass of water would be great, but I can get it myself. You go sit on the couch, ok?" he said, and it made me feel quite happy to notice how he actually seemed to care for my well-being. So, I went to sit on the couch, and asked him to get a glass of water for me as well. While he was looking for glasses in the kitchen, I took a moment to check my phone. There was a message from my best friend, asking me to come on Facebook, because she's "so bored I'm going to jump off the balcony". I giggled and texted back, telling her that I hoped she's still alive and apologized for not replying. Just as I set my phone on the coffee table, Stiles emerged from the kitchen with two tall glasses filled with water. The glass felt cold in my hand, and I unconsciously pressed it against my injured cheekbone, sighing at the sensation.

"Do you have a first-aid kit?" Stiles asked suddenly, his eyes fixed on the cut on my cheek.

"Yeah, in the bathroom" I said. He practically ran to the toilet, while I closed my eyes and enjoyed the freezing cold on my cheek. I nearly screamed, as I felt him sit on the couch right next to me. Somehow I had managed to forget his existence.

"Is that the only injury?" he asked cautiously. I set the glass of water on the sofa table next to my phone, and said no. My right hand went to my chest, pressing around to see where exactly the pain was coming from. The look on Stiles' face was priceless though, as he watched me feel myself up, essentially. His confusion cleared though, as I took in a sharp breath as I pressed directly on the source of the pain; a cut stretching from just under my breast to the side of it. I could remember the man standing behind me and holding me close, with his knife under my shirt to keep me quiet as a man had walked past. To him it had probably just looked like two lovers, and the thought made me cringe.

"Th-there's a cut, under my shirt" I stuttered, not sure of how Stiles would proceed.

"Are you ok with me taking a look..?" He asked, not looking me in the eye. I said it's fine, and turned around to take off my shirt and my bra, covering my chest with my hands. He cleared his throat, as he got some cotton and a disinfectant bottle out of the little red suitcase with a white cross on it. The alcohol-soaked pad of cotton felt like someone had stabbed me in the side, and the pain made me bite my lip as my eyes started to well up with tears. Stiles immediately pulled his hand back, asking me if I'm alright and if he should go on.

"It's fine, the disinfectant just stings" I said, smiling with tears in my eyes. He gave me a sympathetic smile, and continued.

"I'll just put a dressing on it, alright?" he asked, already searching for the supplies in the first-aid kit. I nodded, though I doubt he noticed. Applying the dressing was much less painful, and I was grateful it was over. Once he was finished, I put my clothes back on, and moved on to disinfecting the cut on my cheek.


End file.
